Did you ever experience a hamstring sprain, tennis elbow or potentially plantar fasciitis (inflammation of the bottom of the foot)? If so, you know that it can take sometimes a significant amount of time and possibly surgery to heal one of the injuries.
We have good news – there’s a new treatment that has been used in dentistry since the 1970s although is starting to be used for treatment of orthopedic injuries. This treatment is known as Platelet-rich plasma (PRP) which is an application that helps to enhance the body’s ability to heal itself and can help to shorten rehabilitation time along with possibly prevent surgery.
According to the Wall Street Journal (written by Melinda Beck on March 20th) new studies were presented this month at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons regarding Platelet-rich plasma (PRP) . At the meeting it was released that they found PRP was effective at trading chronic tennis elbow, severe Achilles tendonitis and osteoarthritis of the knee. Although note that some experts say more research is still needed to determine what PRP should be used for and if it’s better than using regular therapies.
How is platelet-rich plasma (PRP) work:
1. Physician will extract about one to two ounces of the blood from the patient. Note: the tube used has a small quantity of anti-clotting agent in order to keep the blood liquid
2. The blood is put into a centrifuge. During this step, the centrifuge will separate out of the platelets (part of your blood that accelerates tissue and wound healing).
3. Physician injects that PRP back into the patient where the injury is located.
4. The PRP helps to repair the injured tissue.
5. Most patients experience some relief within a couple of weeks.
Recent Cases:
1. As mentioned in The New York Times Feb 2009 Article: A Promising Treatment for Athletes, in Blood, Dr. Neal ElAttrache, the Los Angeles Dodgers’ team physician, performed platelet-rich plasma therapy on Takashi Saito’s partially torn ulnar collateral ligament in his throwing elbow. If they performed surgery Saito’s season would have ended and he would have been out for about 10 to 14 months. Instead he returned to pitching and did not experience pain.
Dr. ElAttrache said he could not be certain that the procedure caused the pitcher’s recovery — about 25 percent of such cases heal on their own, he said — but it was another encouraging sign for the nascent technique, which doctors in the field said could help not just injuries to professional athletes but the tendinitis and similar ailments found in the general population.’
2. Hines Ward and Troy Polamalu used it to treat a strained calf and sprained knee ligaments before their SuperBowl.
3. Tiger Woods had injections in his left knee before four major tournaments.
In addition to the cases some other cases listed by the New York Times included one major league pitcher, about 20 professional soccer players and perhaps hundreds of recreational athletes have also undergone the procedure.
Costs of Treatment:
PRP injections range from about $500 to $1000 per treatment and these costs are usually not covered by insurance (since they are still considered experimental) although hopefully prices will come down and insurance coverage will rise as more studies are completed.
We will keep researching this new treatment and will keep everyone posted. If you have any additional information on this subject please comment.